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Tuesday I spent the day at the Nijoloy shelter outside Calcutta, drawing and playing and sketching in a mural map of the world. The children look forward to our twice-yearly volunteer visits with tremendous enthusiasm. Unlike the busy and heroic shelter housemothers, the volunteers have nothing more important to do right now than to hug the girls, to hold their hands and dance around the courtyard, Growing up in a shelter home, or raised by mothers who are beaten down by a life spent in forced prostitution, the children are very hungry for affection.

We were in northern Bengal a few days ago, taking some time off from the frantic pace of our schedule and the constant clamor and pea soup smog of Kolkata.After a marvelous time touring craftsman villages specializing in artisan goods we were driving along a dusty country road towards the main route back to the city.

Suddenly several passengers in our car exclaimed loudly as the driver slammed on the brakes.A woman riding sidesaddle (as is customary), on the back of her husband’s motor scooter had fallen off and landed very badly causing severe head injuries. We all scrambled out of the car and ran to help.

Today we spent the morning with the children at Child Care Home, which is a shelter located in the city with about 70 children in it. It was so nice to see the children again and I am grateful to be back! The wonderful progress of the programs and obvious heart that is put into them is wonderful to see.

It’s been one week since returning to India and what an amazing trip it’s been so far! It took a couple of days to adjust to the craziness of Kolkata which can be somewhat of a sensory overload when you’ve been living in Boulder for the last year and a half. Yet, you do adjust and somehow playing chicken with an oncoming bus is suddenly no big deal. All of that being said, I love it here because I love what we came for…the girls. What a joy it was to reunite with them.